Bay Area’s new Ethiopian eatery to officially open doors

The inside look of Taste of Ethiopia, a new Ethiopian eatery in Northern California set to officially open doors on Friday, May 15th, 2015. (Yelp)

Northern California is adding one more establishment into its list of Ethiopian eateries in the Bay Area. “Taste of Ethiopia”, a new restaurant situated in El Cerrito, will officially open doors this coming Friday.

Restauranteur Tsege Tamene, originally from Ethiopia and a resident of California for the last 25 years, says she is fulfilling a culinary dream of bringing traditional Ethiopian cuisine to her community. “Our food like our culture, is very colorful,” Tamene said in a statement. “I’m excited to share a place that embraces my culture to the fullest.”

Her restaurant was in service since mid-February and is serving customers a variety of Ethiopian cuisine — a blend of spices with no artificial flavors, which are seen as healthy options for vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike.

A display of Ethiopian dishes served at the restaurant. The average price for the meat dishes is $12.95, while most vegetarian plates cost $7.95. (Yelp)

“I’m currently doing a vegan fast/lent. I went everywhere and couldn’t find good Ethiopian food till I ran into ‘Taste Of Ethiopia’,” said a customer who five-starred the restaurant on its Facebook page.

“Amazing food with great customer service,” wrote another customer who reviewed the restaurant online. “I had veggie combo and Gomen B’siga. It was delicious and will definitely go back! I recommend veggie combo and meat combo for first timers.”

The grand opening of the restaurant will feature menu tastings and live Ethiopian jazz music. County Supervisor John Gioia is expected to be in attendance to welcome the restaurant to the community.

“It’s great to have Taste of Ethiopia join the family of El Cerrito businesses and add to the growing diversity of our community. It’s important that we support our locally owned small businesses”, Supervisor Gioia said in a statement.

Tamene’s venture is fostered by Kitchen@812, a food business incubator that helps entrepreneurs launch and develop their small businesses.

Based in Contra Costa County, Kitchen@812 is a program under The Business Development Center — a nonprofit agency that is supporting entrepreneurship and local businesses since 1995. According to the agency’s website, the program provides 3,400 sq/ft of shared-use commercial kitchen space with 24-hour access to flexible prep area, work stations, standard commercial cooking equipment, and dry & cold storage space, among other support services.